On August 24th, Warner Brothers and Legendary Entertainment announced that the film Dune: Part Two would be delayed from its initial November 3rd release to a March release date due to the SAG-AFTRA strike occurring at the time.
Dune: Part Two has been one of my most anticipated releases ever since I first saw Dune in 2021.
The first time I saw Dune, it was a 9pm screening with my Dad in an empty Harkins theater in Tucson. I didn’t go for the IMAX experience, but honestly, I didn’t miss much. Factoring in that he and I had just had a father-son date at Olive Garden, I fell asleep for most of the movie.
Going into the movie I was very excited based on all of the positive reviews I was hearing and because I like sci-fi, but clearly I was not that excited. Months later, the film was rereleased in IMAX in preparation for the Academy Awards and I was able to see the film again. This time I managed to stay awake.
I loved the film, it was visually stunning and interesting and I was just so impressed by the acting and worldbuilding that director Denis Villeneuve crafted. I eventually read the first book over this summer and was hooked on Dune.
Needless to say, while I was disappointed that the film had been delayed, I grew ever excited for the March release date.
On a side note, I have a conspiracy theory that all of the cross-promotion we have seen between Christopher Nolan and Villeneuve for their films Oppenheimer, Dune, Tenet, and Dune: Part Two is partially due to this delayed release date. While the directors are friends who clearly respect each other, nobody wants strong competition when looking to win an award. Oppenheimer and Dune: Part Two are movies with massive star-studded casts, utilizing IMAX 70MM cameras/projecting, jaw-dropping effects, and very strong well-known stories. If both of these films were released in 2023, there would be so much competition between them at the awards, but this way the films can coexist in harmony.
In the first two months of 2024, there were almost no films I had any interest in seeing besides Dune: Part Two. With the indefinite release date delay of Beyond the Spider-Verse, the only blockbuster I was really looking forward to this year was Dune. Everything changed in November, when I was reminded of the film of the decade, releasing on February 14th.
The film I am referring to is, of course, Madame Web. Easily one of the most baffling and horrible movies I have seen in years, but god do I love it so. This movie mostly gained interest due to its cast of leading ladies and connection to the Spider-Man universe. While this film includes the famous Spider-Man character Madame Web, Spider Suits, Spidey Sense, Uncle Ben Parker, and a baby Peter, the movie is not a Spider-Man movie.
So much has already been said about this disaster of a movie. The ADR is insane, the plot is uninteresting and generic, it is set in 2003 for no reason, there are lots of ads for Pepsi, and SPOILER Madame Web has to earn her blindness and paralyzation.
Now I want to make it clear that the whole reason I am writing about Madame Web, is because watching it was one of the most fun theater experiences I have had for a bad movie since Moonfall. I went to this film opening weekend, at a packed IMAX screening at AMC Lincoln Square on a Friday evening. With all of the hilariously bad press tour moments, the memed-on trailer, the general lack of success from Sony’s recent non-Spider-Man, Spider-Man films, and the complete failure of a writing team I don’t really know how anybody went to see this movie without expecting to make fun of it.
Yet you would be surprised, while my roommate and I laughed out loud at many points throughout the movie, I only really heard a handful of others getting in on the fun. In fact, the woman next to me seemed to never even crack a smile at some of the film’s funniest moments. Did some people think this movie was going to be good? Am I disrespectful for laughing out loud that much at a movie that is not supposed to be a comedy? I don’t know what was happening, but what I do know is that I had a fantastic time laughing in shock at one of the worst movies I have seen in a while.
I have seen worse superhero movies in the last few years, such as The Flash or Morbius, but neither of those films is as unfathomable as this was. I desperately need a documentary, a long-form essay, or a book about how this movie failed and what the hell happened in the editing room. Was there ever a good movie in here somewhere? Did the studio kill the movie? Did they make it bad on purpose? I don’t know if we will ever find out, but I’ll enjoy fantasizing about it until we do.
While it is fun to appreciate how bad a movie can be, it is more fun to appreciate a movie for how good it is. Dune: Part Two is one of the best films I have seen in a long time if not one of the best movies I have ever seen in general.
I saw the film at a midnight screening on opening night in IMAX 70MM at AMC Lincoln Square, the biggest screen in America. This is a movie made for IMAX theaters and truly deserves to be seen on the biggest screen possible. There is no reason to wait for this movie to hit streaming, it should be seen in theaters. It is beautiful, it is action-packed, it is packed full of award-deserving performances, and it is well-written with solid adaptions to the original story that only made the story better. I am typically the kind of person who watches a film that is based on a book and gets very mad about changes that were made from the novel, however, every change here I genuinely appreciated. Specifically, I think Villeneuve did such a great job at developing Chani’s character and giving Zendaya so much more to do in this film.
I don’t want to give up too much about this film even though it is based on a 60-year-old story that has been adapted before, I feel it is something worth seeing with virgin eyes. I mostly just want to talk about the theatrical experience of it all.
As I mentioned I saw a midnight screening of this on a Thursday night, knowing I would not get home until 3:30 am when the film finished. Usually, this would deter me and most sane people from seeing a movie, but my hype for the movie was too much to wait any longer. I knew the movie would sell out on opening weekend, but I was surprised to see that the film is virtually sold out in IMAX 70MM throughout most of March. I was even more shocked to see that they added a 3:15 am showing of the film on opening day due to the popularity of the ticket.
It is clear that the hype for this film is real, my social media is just covered with various reactions to the film and I can’t get enough of it, and I think that these reactions are such a great demonstration of how well the film succeeded.
My theater was packed and every single person in that theater was on the edge of their seats the whole time. I heard cheers to big moments in the film, and saw everyone, including myself, doing this meme during the third act.
I really hope that if you are reading this, whoever you are, that you consider going to see this movie with good faith as soon as possible. If you have not read the novel that is totally okay, but I do recommend watching/rewatching the 2021 Dune before seeing this film because it does enhance your experience to be refreshed. Also again, please see this movie in IMAX if you can, especially if you have access to a real IMAX theater with 1:43. I think that it will play well on any screen, but if you have the ability to enjoy the best possible version of this masterpiece, I think you should.
I am so blessed to live in New York City with an AMC A-list subscription because I did not have to spend extra money on either of these IMAX experiences. Whether you are a film buff or not, head out to your local Cineplex this year to catch Madame Web and Dune: Part Two, because I think you’ll regret it if you don’t.
Suburban Astronaut 